Alex Gogic says strength in unity is St Mirren’s secret top-six weapon. The Buddies star believes a real sense of togetherness in the dressing room is continuing to fuel the Paisley club’s dream Premiership campaign.
Gogic was on target at McDiarmid Park last weekend to earn his side a 1-1 draw with St Johnstone, who took the lead through Zak Rudden after having Daniel Phillips sent-off.
The 28-year-old feels the clash provided another insight into the character and spirit of a group which is thriving on having developed a divided-we-fall mentality this season.
“I think we are all united,” he reflected. “We are all together and it doesn’t matter if you’re playing or not. We have that momentum and have done great up until now. We just need to keep on going.
“We just need to keep getting points – it doesn’t matter how. I think at home, with the fans behind us, is a good place as well. Fingers crossed things go our way.
“We’re all one family. We’re not a big group and we’re together in trying to achieve what we want to achieve.”
Gogic converted from substitute Joe Shaughnessy’s cross to earn Saints a point and get off the mark for the season – he might have bagged a brace when he saw a low shot blocked in injury time.
“It has been a while,” he smiled. “Normally I score one a season and I’ve been thinking it has got to come when I’ve been going up for corners and getting into good positions, but the ball doesn’t come.
“But Joe’s cross was amazing and I’m just happy that I was on the end of it. A second goal at the end would have been great, but I’ll take that one goal and we didn’t lose, so that’s a positive.
“In the second half, we had a man extra and we used it to our advantage, but we just couldn’t get the right end to it. We had loads of chances. They go 1-0 up and sometimes you can put your head down, but the response was excellent from the boys.”
Playing against 10 men for all of the second half did give the Buddies an edge and Gogic admitted they planned on putting Saintees on the back foot. He added: “We wanted to make them defend. We wanted to play and create and not just play in front of them.
“We’d been in this position before against Livingston and at Aberdeen, where we used it to our advantage.”
Gogic also insists St Mirren have the belief that they can beat all-conquering Celtic. Ange Postecoglou’s team won the League Cup final on Sunday after beating arch-rivals Rangers 2-1 at Hampden.
The Glasgow giants resume the defence of their Premiership title on Sunday with a trip to Greenhill Road. But in September on their last visit to Paisley, goals from Mark O’Hara and Jonah Ayunga earned Saints a stunning 2-0 victory – Celtic’s only domestic defeat so far this season.
And Gogic said of outsiders Saints: “We’ve got to show them respect but we know what we can do. It’s possible to win. We know what we’re good at and we will get prepared.
“If you don’t have belief, you might as well not play. You have already lost.”
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